


Love On Your Skin

by KotoriLexy



Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Canonical Character Death, Every canonic problem gets solved kinda accidentally, F/M, Fluff, Hatake Kakashi is a Troll, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, No Bashing, Slow Burn, Soulmate AU, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Uchiha angst, age gap, politics (sort of)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2020-03-05 13:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18829966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KotoriLexy/pseuds/KotoriLexy
Summary: Soulmate AU where whatever you write on your skin also appears at the same place on your soulmate's. Shisuixfem!Naru





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
> Enjoy~

**.**

**Prologue**

**"** You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear. **"** — Oscar Wilde.

**.**

It was another boring day at the Academy.

Seated on her swing, Naruto watched as her classmates played together. While most children played tag, she couldn't join them. They would actually mock her if she tried.

They said that their parents told them that she was a bad girl. But how would they know? What did they know about her? She just needed a chance. Just a single chance and she would show them that she was a good person and that she just wanted to play and have fun like them.

Not too far from her, she heard giggles and squeals. She turned her head, casting her attention to the side and saw two girls from her class talking to each other, their cheeks red and their eyes sparkling. She wanted a friend with whom she could be happy like that too.

"And if the words appear on the skin of the person you love, that means that he's your destined one! That's what my grandma said," the blonde one chirped.

Naruto's ears focused on their conversation.

"So, if we write something on our skin, and it appears on Sasuke-kun's, that means we're going to marry him?" the little girl with pink hair asked, visibly excited.

Her friend nodded with a smile. "Um! But, Sakura, we have to write different words, so that we'll know for sure who Sasuke-kun's soulmate is!"

Despite her best efforts, Naruto was now staring at them in a far less subtle way. What were they talking about?

"Here, I'm writing the word  _Flower_  for me. Which one did you choose?"

"Hm," Sakura pouted cutely, " _Ribbon_ , maybe?"

"Alright, here, write it!"

"Okay," Sakura grinned, before taking the marker and scribbling something on the palm of her left hand. "And now?"

Her friend smiled, her cheeks rosy. "Now, we ask Sasuke-kun to show us his hand!"

Sakura's blush deepened, and she lowered her head shyly. "Ah, do we have to?"

"Of course! How else would we know? Come on, Sakura!" Her blonde friend grabbed her by her arm, trying to force her to her feet.

"W-Wait, Ino!"

"I can check for you!" Naruto blurted out.

Both girls turned their heads towards her. Naruto gulped. If she was nice, maybe they would be her friend too?

"Um, you want to know what word is written on Sasuke's hand right? I can... I can ask him for you," she repeated, a bit unsure. She was rewarded by the brightest smiles she was ever graced with. A warm feeling started to spread in her chest. Okay, she wouldn't mess this up!

It turned out that both of Sasuke's hands were devoid of any writing. Following behind the two mopping girls, Naruto confronted them curiously. "What's the big deal about those writings anyway?"

The blonde girl, Ino, she recalled, sighed. "My grandma told me about this story, you see. Everyone has a soulmate, a person that you will love and who will love you always and you will be very happy with them. Grandma said that not a lot of people know it, but when you write or draw something on your skin, the same mark will appear in the same place on your soulmate. But…" she sighed again, glancing toward Sasuke sadly. "It's not him."

Naruto's eyebrows knitted together doubtfully. "Are you sure you did it right though? Maybe he is but it just didn't work."

"Grandma said that's how she found Grandpa!" Ino retorted with a frown. "Usually people don't believe it or they forget it, but, that's how she knew it was him, and that's how he knew it was her! I know she's not lying!"

"I didn't say that! But, maybe it has to be done with a special pen or something?"

Ino's eyes widened. Oh. Maybe… That would mean she still had a chance with Sasuke-kun.

Before she could answer Naruto, though, a hand grasped her shirt tightly. "Um, Ino…"

Both blondes looked at Sakura, who was staring at her right hand, shocked and red in the face. "My, my hand, look…"

They approached her and saw that, in very neat and clean handwriting, the word  _Dog_  had appeared on her right palm.

* * *

 

Lying on her bed, Naruto was staring at her ceiling. In the afternoon, Ino had gone completely crazy. Forgetting all about her disappointment concerning Sasuke, she kept going on and on about the fact that Sakura's soulmate had answered her.  _He must be an Inuzuka_ , she had declared, before running to check both Kiba's hands (which informed them that he wasn't the one).  _Or maybe he just likes dogs_ , Naruto had then suggested. That didn't exactly help in finding Sakura's True Love, but he had answered her! It had worked!

Naruto sat up, before grabbing the brush on her night table.

People always avoided her. They whispered mean things about her as if she wouldn't notice. She was prohibited from entering some stores, and the parents asked their children not to approach her because she was dangerous. Yes, she did pull some pranks at times, but so did Kiba. Was it because she was a girl? Was it because she was blonde with blue eyes? Ino was like that too but she heard that her colouring was different from Ino's family. Some people said she must be a brat brought by accident from Kumo. Was her family in Kumo? The old man who brought her monthly allowance told her that her parents were Konoha-nins though. However, he never gave her any more information than that. Or was it because of the marks on her face? But many ninjas had marks on their faces too. She thought they were cute, just like a kitty's.

She soaked the brush in ink, before proceeding to write on her arm.

If her soulmate didn't know that she was Uzumaki Naruto, the Dangerous Brat, maybe they wouldn't run away from her? Could someone really love her like Ino had said?

Ceasing her train of thoughts, she inhaled deeply.

Maybe she wouldn't get an answer, like Ino. Maybe she would just have one word and wouldn't be able to find out who it was, like Sakura. But, she would at least give it a try.

_Hello. Will you be my friend?_


	2. Chapter 2

 

**.**

**Chapter 2**

**.**

On the following day, as soon as she arrived at school, Naruto was attacked by both a very excited Ino and an equally excited Sakura.

"He answered me! He answered me! Look!" She exclaimed, presenting her wrist to reveal a beautiful rose drawn there. "Mommy said he must be an artist because the drawing is sooo pretty!"

Naruto blinked, before grinning widely, her heart beating wildly. "That's so awesome, Ino! Then he likes flowers too!"

"Yeah! Maybe he'll make a drawing of me too?" Ino giggled. "I have to think about what I could write next!"

Naruto nodded, a huge smile on her face. Sure, she was happy for Ino, but more than anything, she was just happy that both girls had come looking for her to let her know about the answer. It meant more to her than they could ever imagine.

"So did you ask who it is?"

Ino blinked. "Uh, no, not really. I guess I could though? It's a bit like exchanging letters, right?" She then turned her attention to Sakura, who was smiling happily at her. "Did you ask your soulmate?"

Sakura's smile faltered, letting a deep blush appear on her cheeks. "Um, no, I didn't try again. I, um, I don't know what to say. Maybe it's better to wait? Maybe... he'll talk to me first next time?"

"Heh, you can wait and see, but I won't!" Ino laughed, her eyes sparkling. "I want to talk to him some more!"

Naruto nodded with a bright smile and briefly sent a subconscious glance down at her arm. She hoped she would also get an answer soon.

"Class is about to start", Sakura reminded the two of them.

"Right!" Ino realized and headed towards the building, quickly followed by Sakura.

Naruto followed after them and was about to join them when she came to a halt, her smile falling from her face as she clenched her fists. Was it okay to go with them now? Sure, they had wanted to let her know the end of the story, but that didn't make them friends. Did it?

"Naruto?" Ino asked.

Naruto realized that in her musing, both girls had turned towards her and were looking at her expectantly.

"You're not coming?"

Her eyes widened and she felt like her chest was about to burst out of sheer happiness. A toothy grin formed on her lips and she ruffled the back of her short hair, chuckling shyly. "Yeah, I'm coming!", she called, breaking into a run to join them once more.

When they arrived in the classroom, the three of them all sat at the same table with Ino in the middle. Around them, children were laughing and chattering. Naruto usually felt left out, but for once, she didn't even notice the other children, too focused on her new friends besides her.

"When are you going to ask him?" Sakura inquired, eyeing Ino curiously.

"I don't know. What if he doesn't want me to know? It's not too early, right?"

"I don't think it is. You can give him your name first, that way you'll be even!" Naruto suggested.

Naruto didn't think twice about making the suggestion. After all, she would do the same if she was in Ino's predicament. Every once in a while, when she was feeling particularly lonely, Naruto would make her way to the middle of the market square and yell her name at strangers. There was no one to reprimand her for it or tell her not to so she didn't think it was rude. Besides, names were important. Sometimes they were the most important thing someone owned.

Ino nodded, a serious expression on her face. "Alright, I'll do it."

She took a pen and after a few attempts, she began writing on her left wrist.

_I am Ino._

She appraised the words carefully and closed her eyes with another nod, satisfied with her work.

* * *

Iruka was proud of his job. Despite having a rough childhood, he had managed to become a responsible shinobi who could protect his village and its inhabitants at any cost. That is why he liked the concept of teaching the new generation. If he could guide the children of Konoha to help them become accomplished adults as he had, it would be his greatest achievement. Or at least, that was his intention until he was interrupted by an outraged cry in the middle of a very important lecture on the Five Great Nations and their leaders.

Standing in her place, Yamanaka Ino was glaring daggers at her hand.

"He drew a  _pig_?!"

On her right, Haruno Sakura held a hand over her mouth, while staring at her friend with wide eyes. It served in keeping Iruka from being able to tell whether she was trying to stifle a giggle or if she was shocked beyond words.

On Ino's left, Uzumaki Naruto was looking at her quizzically. "You think your soulmate is a pig?" She whispered loudly.

'Soulmate...?' Iruka deadpanned. By the Rikudō, even  _Uzumaki Naruto_ was talking about boys now.

"What? No! He's obviously making fun of me!"

"Ino, Sakura, Naruto."

Both Naruto and Sakura froze on the spot. Ino didn't seem to care though. She sat down and took a pen before she began to scribble vehemently on her left arm.

"Ino!" Iruka raised his voice this time. Where was these kids' respect for authority? Back in his days-

No, actually. He couldn't say much about that at all after his own childhood was spent pranking and disrespecting his teachers.

"But he made fun of me!"

"Who did?"

"The love of my life!" Ino shrieked in a shrill voice.

The ninja tried very hard not to roll his eyes. As irritating as it was, he  _had_  signed up for this. Once upon a time, he was six too. He knew how six-year-olds worked and how girls that age were more interested in the prospect of finding their future husbands rather than learning how to sharpen a kunai correctly.

He glanced towards Uchiha Sasuke and sent him a disappointed scowl. In return, he received a deliberate, confused blink from the boy.

As their teacher, and someone who spent countless hours a day among these children, he was well aware that his most brilliant student was quite popular with the girls. Sasuke seemed to find this pretty unfortunate, but perhaps that was another advantage of being an Uchiha; being able to distract your enemies with an attractive appearance. Somehow, Iruka found that quite believable and looking over at his angelic face, he would have never believed Sasuke would be able to harm a soul.

"Ino," he began with a long-suffering sigh, "No one was making fun of you. Sasuke has been focused on the lecture the entire time, as should you."

Despite Ino's disruption and the obvious pride that began to swell in his chest, Sasuke finally seemed to realize exactly what was said. Now, instead of pride welling in his chest, his cheeks bloomed a deep red as he let out a strangled shriek, "What?"

Following Sasuke's lead, the class erupted in an uproar.

"Silence!" Iruka warned, quickly restoring order.

"What does any of this have to do with Sasuke-kun?" Ino frowned.

Iruka stared a bit dumbfounded. "Do you not... Urm, have a crush on Sasuke-kun?" he asked in a soft, curious tone.  _Kami_ , could this get any more embarrassing?

"What? Of course not! That was yesterday, Iruka-sensei; I've found my soulmate since then!" Ino explained tactlessly, seemingly proud of her accomplishment despite her claim.

Iruka groaned. Maybe it wasn't too late to resign and go back on active duty?

While dealing with his other troublemaker, he couldn't help but notice that Naruto was sitting quietly, grinning broadly beside Ino. She had never really paid attention to her classmates before, not individually. As far as he knew, she didn't know Ino and Sakura at all, other than the facts that the two of them were good friends and that they always squealed when Sasuke was around. But now, to his surprise, a bond seemed to be forming between Naruto and the other two girls.

As he stood there, his eyes strayed to where she was peering at her blonde friend's arm, attempting to decipher the angry handwriting scrawled there. Apparently, it was the response she had written to her 'soulmate's' drawing of a pig.

_WHAT IS YOUR NAME?_

* * *

"I swear there's some evil spirit haunting my body!" Shisui cried aloud. "They scribble on it all the time! At first, I thought it was somewhat cute, you know? Them asking me to be their friend and all. Then again, I had gotten a bit drunk that night and I thought that I had written that myself, to be honest. But a few days later, they wrote again that it was mean not to answer and this morning I woke up with a-a-a  _skeleton head_  or whatever it was on my arm grinning creepily back at me! I felt like my heart had  _stopped_! This thing is  _threatening_  me!"

Shisui's fear was palpable on the other side of the table, but Anko snickered at his expense. Whoever pranked Shisui and made him terrified of his own skin deserved a gold medal. She had never been able to get this kind of reaction out of him. To think that this was the reason he had asked her to come with him to the dango shop, well, that was even more cause for amusement.

"To think that our Shunshin Prodigy would freak out this much over a silly little drawing."

"Wha-?!" Shisui sounded scandalized by her teasing. "Look, it's one thing to fight an enemy when you can evaluate their strength and adapt, but," his voice cracked – a sweet side effect of puberty hitting, "how I am supposed to fight an invisible opponent who writes on my body?"

"You're just annoyed because someone managed to sneak up on you during your sleep," she taunted before plucking off another dango with her teeth.

Shisui grumbled something not-so-sweet under his breath.

"It's okay. It happens to the best. Well, not to me," she added, twirling the now bare stick between her fingers, "but you'll get better."

He stared at her for a few moments as he was evaluating her before he narrowed his eyes slightly. "It wouldn't happen to be you, right?"

She laughed boisterously. "As if I'd waste my time harassing a little brat like you!"

She definitely would have, had she had the necessary stealth to surprise that smug little shit. It was true that she might be considered a prodigy in her own right, but there was a reason Shisui outranked her despite being four years younger than her.

"Did you at least  _try_  to answer them?"

Anko glanced behind Shisui as the boy turned in his seat to take a look at the man behind whose hands were stuffed in his pockets. He had an eternal senbon in his mouth and wore a bandana wrapped around his head, eyeing them curiously.

"Genma," Anko saluted from her place.

"What do you mean 'answer them'? Answer who?" Shisui asked.

Genma approached them and sat beside the curly-haired Uchiha. "You were talking about some mysterious writing popping up on your skin, right? The first time I heard about that was with Yondaime-sama."

Shisui raised his eyebrows in amusement as both him and Anko listened to what Genma had to say.

"Back when I was part of the platoon, I'd see him write on his hands sometimes. Or his legs, even. He told me that was his way of reaching his soulmate. And that the answers would get written on their own on his skin."

Both teenagers stared at him before Anko burst out laughing.

"Don't tell me you believe in that crap!"

Genma shrugged. "I saw it happen."

Shisui's brows furrowed. He looked once again at the drawing on his arm. Huge, round eyes in a petite face were staring straight back at him, and a smile made of irregular sharp teeth stretched the alien face.

He glanced back at Genma. "You're not the one pranking me, are you? Because I feel like one of you is trying to prank me."

Anko slammed her stick down on the table. "Oh, for the love of-"

* * *

The clinking of metal on metal carried on the breeze as Naruto trained diligently in the forest behind the academy. Today, she only managed to reach the target four times out of ten while that Sasuke-bastard got the ten of them! Sakura-chan scored six of them and Ino-chan seven. She wouldn't stay behind, she had to train more!

When her hands started to hurt, she decided to take a break. She plopped down on the spot and stared at the target. She decided that something must have been wrong in the way she was throwing her kunai, but she couldn't understand why nor what to do about it. If only someone could give her some pointers she'd be fine.

She glanced down, her hands on her lap. Sakura-chan couldn't stay late after school, her mom always came to pick her up. And Ino-chan said that she was learning how to work at her family's flower shop. However, even though she couldn't spend time with them outside of school, she had grown much closer to the girls over the last week. Ever since the beginning of the whole 'soulmate' event, the three of them had grown inseparable and Naruto was content enough with that.

Sakura-chan hadn't tried to talk to her other half again, despite her oldest friend's pestering. Naruto didn't mind though, as long as they could be together, she wouldn't push her. On the other hand, Ino-chan wouldn't stop talking about her one and only. They had learned that his name was Sai and he wanted to become a ninja of Konoha someday.

At first, Sai was a bit reluctant to give information about his life, but he had underestimated his destined one's talkativeness and pushiness. And although Ino-chan was the one doing most of the talking, he eventually relented and gave her bits of information about him over the week. He lived in a small house with his older brother, Shin, he was turning eight soon (which made him over a year older than them), and he loved to draw.

Naruto twirled a kunai in her hand as she considered that. She hadn't heard any news from her soulmate, but having Ino's and Sakura's friendship was far too important to her to stay focused on that.

Regardless, she couldn't help but wonder. Why didn't he answer her? Did he know she was Uzumaki Naruto? Did he hate her like everyone else?

Sakura-chan and Ino-chan seemed to like her though. The day before, they had both shared their meal with her, since she had forgotten to pack hers. Nothing of the sort had ever happened to her before. And although they chatted all the time about boys, Naruto couldn't bring herself to mind it. At least they had stopped squealing whenever Sasuke so much as breathed! That and they also helped each other. Sakura-chan knew a lot of stuff from her books and Ino-chan knew a lot of ninja stuff that she had never heard of before. Between the two of them, she had learned plenty of new things and it was super fun to have friends!

Even though he continued to ignore her, Naruto tried to contact her soulmate that morning. Since Ino was always so happy whenever Sai drew something, she figured that maybe her soulmate would like it if she did the same. It didn't hurt to try. After all, he hadn't asked her to stop writing to him yet so she considered that that counted for something too!

She peered down at the drawing she had made on her arm. She was so hopeful for her soulmate to like her drawing that it took her several moments before she realized that there was something else written beside it.

_Are you a ghost?_

That wasn't her handwriting and it definitely wasn't there before. She wiped her eyes just to make sure and found herself blinking in disbelief. The writing was still there, she immediately let out a heartfelt cry.

She had finally gotten an answer! At long last, her soulmate had spoken to her! She read over it again just to be sure and grinned.

"Oh, I have to answer him!" she cried before she stood up and ran towards her bag. She threw it open and rifled through it to retrieve a pen, before looking back at the response and jotting down her answer.

_I'm your soulmate, dummy!_

She wrote it out quickly, eagerly waiting for him to answer again. She couldn't believe it had worked! He wasn't going to make her wait another week though, right? Her worries were lifted almost immediately when she saw all of her writing vanish from her arm. It startled her. What just happened? Did she do something wrong?

But before she could truly begin to panic, she saw new words forming on her arm.

_Then why did you draw death staring at me?_

She pouted and stared hard at what had appeared. Death? How do you draw death? She didn't even know what it looked like. Naruto thought over it for a moment before shaking her head. No, she hadn't drawn death; she was sure of it.

_It wasn't me! I only drew a frog!_

She had decided to draw something nice to make him happy, so she had taken her wallet Gama-chan and drew it, with its sparkling big eyes and its funny smile.

 _Ah,_  that  _frog. Yes. It was cute._

Naruto beamed. So it worked after all! Sai was a genius!

_If I do more drawings, you'll answer me then?_

Once again, all the words were erased as soon as she finished writing them, but she didn't panic this time. Instead, she watched in amazement and wondered how he did that. It seemed strange to her since it usually took her some time to wash away everything from her skin. Maybe he was taking a bath?

_I'm sorry I didn't answer you sooner. I've never heard of this whole soulmate thing before. To be honest, I still wonder if-_

He didn't finish his last sentence before he erased it, but she found it incredible to see each word form in real-time. It was as if she could feel his presence on her skin.

He began writing again.

_I'm sorry I didn't answer you sooner. I've never heard of this whole soulmate thing before. You don't need to draw for me to answer you from now on. I'm here now._

She didn't pay much attention to what he had erased and nor did she remember, but she didn't think about it too hard. Instead, she couldn't contain the excitement bubbling in her chest. She let out a cry of joy, her eyes bright as she read his answer over and over again.

_You gave your word!_

**.**

_**To be continued** _

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Ino means Pig. So, "I am Ino" equals "I am a pig" in Japanese.


	3. Chapter 3

_You gave your word!_

Washing the dishes, Shisui was repeating the written conversation that he had had a moment ago. On his skin.

After his encounter with Genma, he had pondered a lot whether he should "answer" whoever was writing on his body or not. He had actually written his first sentence as a joke. What he hadn't expected was to get a reply almost instantly. Seeing those words appearing, character by character, was quite unsettling.

Well… Maybe not as unsettling as the fact that the drawing he woke up with that morning was supposed to be a frog. After thinking back of the childish form, he started seeing how the huge round eyes and the small face…  _could_  have possibly been representing the small animal. In some kind of perspective.

Washing his skin with his chakra from time to time, he had kept answering them curiously. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he still wondered if someone hadn't put a seal to allow these kinds of conversations to make fun of him. That would be an amazing skill to use during missions though! Did anyone in Konoha know enough about Fūinjutsu to manage such a feat? Unless it was an enemy who had put a seal on him during a mission and they were trying now to extract information from him.

He had almost told them as much – whoever he was talking to. He was about to ask them to convince them that Soulmate-thing was real, by whatever means. However, he couldn't help but think that the answers he had gotten were far too pure to be a lie. Somehow, a feeling inside his chest made him almost believe it.

He shook his head to clear his mind. Genma wasn't the type of person to make those kinds of statements without any foundation. After all, if even the Yondaime believed it, it must have held some truth.

Despite it all, he couldn't help but feel slightly wary. Even  _if_  the person he was talking to was well-meaning, he didn't know anything about them. Be it their gender, their age, their village or their job. What if they were an enemy ninja? He had to be careful not to give them any sensitive information about himself, or worse, about Konoha. Moreover, he was becoming more and more famous for his speed and his genjutsu abilities. He couldn't take the risk to endanger his village for the sake of-of what? Talking to a stranger that Fate was throwing at him through his  _skin_?

He deadpanned. There, he was sounding just like a Hyūga.

Hearing light steps behind him, he came out of his thoughts and turned around, smiling.

"Shisui?" a beautiful woman with long wavy dark hair called him from the door.

"Welcome back, Mom," he greeted her warmly.

She approached him slowly. "You didn't come to the meeting," she remarked before kissing him on the cheek.

He grimaced. Ah, those clan meetings. He turned back his eyes to the plate in his hand and washed the soap with water. "I… Uh, Hokage-sama summoned me earlier today."

"Oh?" she asked in a seemingly nonchalant voice.

However, Shisui knew instantly that her thoughts were twirling. "Nothing bad, Mom. Everything's fine," he tried to reassure her. "Actually, it should be really good for the clan."

She raised an eyebrow in response, her calculating eyes staring at him.

"I might become part of the ANBU soon." Expecting the dark look she gave him, he didn't let her expression deter him. "It's such an opportunity for me; it would be beneficial for the village and the clan's reputation!"

"ANBU shinobis have neither name nor clan, Shisui," she reminded him while taking the sponge in his hand. "And you're only 14. I can't see how it could be good for anyone, other than this twisted and ungrateful system."

She pushed him gently to finish cleaning the sink. Shisui frowned, his lips turning downwards. He knew that the behaviour of the citizens of Konoha had turned his mother bitter and that she was especially angry at the Hokage's lack of reaction.

Leaning in front of her, he insisted. "The higher-ups will take my position into account and the clan's place in the council could become more important and impactful."

Her eyes blazed in red before turning back to their usual black color. "Shisui."

He felt a lump in his throat. He hated going against his mother and angering her. After all, she was such a sweet and comprehensive woman usually. He understood her anger, but he still thought that acting out on bitterness and hatred would cause more harm than good to their family.

He leaned back and ruffled his hair in frustration. All the same, he still thought the quicker he would climb the ranks, the easier he would manage to help his clan and ease their situation.

When she looked back at him, his mother's gaze softened and she let out a sigh. "Shisui, you're the one to decide on your future. I won't interfere, but I would like you to take into consideration that the ANBU is too much of a dark place for a teenager and that your work won't be as valued as it should be. Konoha's higher-ups are a bunch of selfish opportunists and they won't hesitate to break you for their sake."

"I know," Shisui answered sullenly, leaving a short pause before adding a soft, "I understand, Mom."

She nodded, placated by his answer. "Then I hope you'll at least reconsider. I love you, Shisui, but your efforts won't account for anything if it costs you your life."

Shisui plastered on a reassuring smile for her to mask his heartache. It made him exhausted to hide the truth from her, but he knew that she would thank him in the end. He approached her to circle his arms around her neck, and he laid his head on her shoulder. "You don't have to worry. If I become a part of ANBU, I'll make you proud."

It wasn't exactly a lie; he wouldn't throw his life away without a good reason. And he would most definitely do everything to better the situation of his family and to bring back his mother's serene smile.

"Oh, Shisui," she returned the hug, drawing light circles on his back, and she gave him a light kiss on the forehead. "I'm already so proud of you, honey. Don't forget that I'll always be there though, you don't need to push yourself more than you already do."

Appeased by her words, he closed his eyes softly and buried his head in the crane of her neck. "I know."

* * *

On the following morning, Naruto went to school in a particularly good mood.

This feeling was so new! To be able to talk to people, like she was… Like a normal person. She had two friends now, and she was on her way to make a third one! Sure, he didn't know her name, but she didn't know his either so they were even.

She thought back to his response.  _I'm here now._

She started skipping, swinging her arms back and forth with a huge grin on her lips. It was the first time someone uttered this kind of words to her. It was so nice. She felt like her heart was about to burst with excitement and happiness.

When she arrived at the gates of the Academy, she spotted Ino and Sakura seated on the grass near the entry of the building. They weren't that hard to find, the pink hair was quite easy to notice. She quickened her pace toward her new friends. "Sakura-chan! Ino-chan!"

They both turned in the direction the sound of the names was coming from and they greeted Naruto with a smile as soon as they saw her. She loved those smiles.

"Naruto, you're finally here!" Ino called.

"Hello, Naruto," Sakura grinned. "We were waiting for you!"

Naruto tilted her head to the side curiously. "What's it?"

Instead of answering her, Ino opened her bag and took from it three little rectangular sponges, one orange, one purple, and one pink.

"My grandma gave those to me! I chose each color for us." Ino turned her gaze toward her blonde friend. "Naruto, I took an orange one for you since you're often wearing orange clothes. I just guessed that it's your favorite color since you never told me. Is it okay?" Ino inquired.

Naruto stared, surprised. She nodded silently.

Ino's face lit up. "I knew it! You see, I was telling Sakura that those were special sponges soaked in chakra. We can use them to erase easily whatever's written on our skin when we talk with our soulmates! I know that you didn't talk to yours yet, but whenever you do, you can use this! It's really practical."

Naruto's eyes widened. This... Was it a  _gift_? An actual gift, for  _her_?

Without thinking, she threw her arms around Ino's neck, causing her friend to shriek. "Thank you thank you thank youuu!"

"Wahh! Naruto, calm down, it's just a sponge!"

Sakura giggled. "And you didn't even speak with your soulmate yet," she added.

Naruto's hold on Ino weakened a bit and she glanced at both girls, uncertain. "Uhh… Actually…"

Ino frowned slightly, waiting for her to finish her sentence. However, Sakura was quicker to understand and she let out a gasp.

"Naruto, did you talk to him?!"

She nodded shyly, her cheeks reddening. "Um, yes, he answered me yesterday."

Both her friends attacked her instantly, squealing in shock.

"Eeehhh?!"

"No way! What did he tell you ?"

"Was he nice?"

"What do you know about him?"

Naruto's eyebrows went up and she stepped back. She wasn't expecting such a strong reaction. Feeling embarrassed, she looked down and rubbed the back of her neck. "I… Um, I wrote to him the same day as you. But he only answered me yesterday, so…"

Ino and Sakura stared at her in disbelief.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?!" Ino demanded, shocked yet excited.

"I didn't think you'd be interested in that…"

"Of course we are!" Sakura replied, upset.

"We tell each other everything about our soulmates, remember?" Ino added with conviction.

Actually, she didn't. It didn't mean that she didn't like it.

Smiling at her friends, Naruto scratched her cheek. "Okay then, I'll tell you everything from now on."

Both Ino and Sakura nodded, satisfied.

"We should go to the classroom now," Ino realized. "But don't think you're getting away with it! You'll have to tell us  _everything_!"

Naruto laughed and started to walk beside her friends in the direction of their classroom. When they arrived and sat next to each other, they kept chattering, Sakura and Ino asking question after question about their new friend's True Love.

Their teacher entered the class a moment afterwards, a pile of papers in his arms. He put everything on his desk and asked for his students' attention.

"Good morning, everyone! Today, we'll be having a written exam."

Naruto blinked, and turned toward her friends, before looking back at Iruka. Her smile suddenly left her face. What. Whaaaaaat?!

* * *

Silence reigned in the classroom. Only sounds of pencils scratching the paper could be heard as every student was focused on their exam. Naruto glanced sideways to watch her friends. Ino's eyebrows were furrowed while she re-read a question. On the other hand, Sakura was writing without interruption.

She looked back at her paper. Although she had managed to answer a few questions, most of them made no sense to her. Written stuff and theory were really not her cup of tea. It was so uninteresting! And anyway, how could knowing the name of some lost village be important for a ninja?

She just wanted to train to become more skilled and know how to fight. Studying was too boring, and-and hard. If only someone could be by her side and help her...

_I'm here now._

Naruto blinked. But… She had someone by her side from now on… Right?

With a pen in her hand, she checked that Iruka was far enough from her before she started writing on her wrist.

_Hello. What's the 3 ninja ranks?_

She waited a moment for his reply, before realizing that he might take another week before answering. Letting out a sigh, she went back to reading the questions, before she saw from the corner of her eye that new words were appearing on the inside of her arm.

_Genin. Chūnin. Jōnin._

Her eyes went wide. Woaaaah! Dattebayooooooo! He had answered her so quickly! And she even recognized those words! Her soulmate must be so smart!

She quickly wrote down those answers, a happy smile on her face. She continued reading the questions, jotting down the answers to the easiest ones, when she had to stop again.

_Hey, do you know the country of Kumogakure?_

She tapped with her pen a few times on the table until she saw an answer forming. A smile stretched her face before he had even finished.

_Do you mean Kaminari no Kuni?_

Hah! That word was so long and complicated, yet people were surprised that she couldn't remember it?

_Thank you your awesome!_

With a light heart, she continued working on her exam, asking for help from time to time. Her soulmate was the best, dattebayo!

* * *

_No, the war ended in the year 66, mainly because the Yondaime Hokage and his team managed to defeat an important part of the Iwagakure military defense._

Shisui answered the questions carefully, trying to stay as neutral as possible in his wordings. Were they testing his knowledge as a shinobi or trying to guess his affiliation depending on his answers? The questions were a bit childish and quite easy to answer, but he had to stay careful.

However, he was starting to notice a few elements about his- discussion partner on his part. He hadn't really paid attention to it at first, but they made quite a few mistakes. He wondered what it meant about them. Were they bad at writing? Did they make those mistakes on purpose? Did they have a poor education? Or a lesser intellect? He also noticed that they wrote solely in hiragana, never using kanji, which spoke of simple and basic knowledge. He wondered if he could help them with it.

He considered asking them why they were demanding all those information from him, but he decided against it in the end. It would be better if he could guess by himself without their knowledge for now.

_Thank you! I never did this good at an exam!_

Shisui stared, his mind blank. What.

He stared some more.

Did he just help them  _cheat_?

In his surprise, he guffawed. He thought back to all the questions he had to answer. It… definitely sounded like questions for a written exam. Either for an academy student or a civilian school.

This was the second time that this person was breaking his expectations.

They were turning out to be quite unpredictable, it seemed.


	4. Chapter 4

On the way to her home, Naruto was skipping again, a happy smile on her face. She was singing in the street joyfully while she thought back to her day at school.

"Weee eeer' fiiighting dreaama', ta-akamiii wo meeezashiiite~"

After her exam (that she had totally aced, dattebayo!), it had been a calm day to spend alongside Sakura-chan and Ino-chan. School was so much more interesting with her friends! They had learnt about the five elements and chakra today. At first, it had made no sense to her, but thanks to Sakura-chan's drawings and explanations and Ino's helpful comments, Naruto had finally managed to understand the most important parts of the lesson. Theory wasn't  _that_  hard when it was explained with easy words. Sakura-chan should definitely become a teacher; she'd be the best at it in Naruto's opinion!

Since she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, she missed a man coming out of a store as she went past it and they collided briefly. Even if it didn't hurt, she stepped back and let out a cry of surprise.

"Hey, careful, kiddo!" the man warned as he glanced down at her.

Naruto rubbed her forehead sheepishly. "Eh, it's okay, I'm sorry," she grinned bashfully.

When she looked up at him, she noticed that he was staring at her with a barely concealed anger in his eyes.

"Fuck off, brat," he snarled at her, his eyebrows narrowed and with glowing pupils.

Naruto tensed, her good mood dropping suddenly. There it went again.

She swallowed and glared at the man despite the painful weight that was settling in her chest. "I didn't do it on purpose, you're at fault too-ttebayo!" she retorted defensively.

His eyes widened slightly with rage filling them and he approached her menacingly, his teeth visible from the grimace he was making. "You damned little bastard-!" he started.

But Naruto didn't let him the time to finish his answer. She gritted her teeth and stomped on his foot, causing him to scream in pain (serves him right!) before she ran past him as quickly as she could.

Idiot! Mean bastard! She hadn't done anything wrong! She had  _apologized_  while he hadn't! Just because he was older than her didn't mean that he was entitled to treat her that way! She hated these eyes, these looks, these snarls; she hated them  _so much_.

Forgetting all about her day, she went back to her apartment, her heart heavy, as she wondered once again why the villagers treated her this way. Before he had looked at her, he had sounded nice; however, as soon as he realized who she was, his tone had completely changed.

What was wrong with her?

* * *

The wind was blowing gently on the grass under the sun as the singing of birds enveloped the scenery. However, slowly and progressively, the atmosphere became much heavier; the colour of the sky changed to a deep red and the clouds turned black. The chant of the birds started to sound distraught and the flow of the wind resounded violently. The enemy should feel fear taking hold of his being now; they would be paralysed as they'd lose more and more connection to their senses.  _It would be then time to-_

When he sensed that a familiar  _chakra_  signature was approaching him, Shisui broke the  _mudra_  his hands were forming and the genjutsu he was working on dissipated immediately. He stood up slowly and dusted his clothes when he finally noticed his training partner's silhouette coming out from the woods.

He waved at his younger cousin with a happy grin as he tried to ignore the faint stab in his heart at the sight of the child's ANBU armour. He still thought that Itachi was way too young to be part of this unit, which was why, when the Hokage had suggested that he also joined them; he had decided to accept so that he could at least try to lessen the burden on Itachi's shoulders. Shisui suspected that this proposition had something to do with his meddling with Itachi's first ANBU mission, although he couldn't be too sure.

Itachi smiled back at Shisui and greeted him silently. The younger boy seemed tired and the lines under his eyes had deepened since the last time he had seen him.

"And here I thought that you had forgotten about little old me," Shisui joked as he ruffled his cousin's hair, "how have you been doing?"

The fact that Itachi didn't stop him was just another sign that he wasn't in the greatest shape. After all, other than Sasuke,  _no one_  was allowed to touch these beautiful and long silky locks. "I just came back from a mission. It went fine."

That was not what Shisui had asked of him, but he knew that he wouldn't get more information about his mental state. With a slight nod, Shisui sat back on the ground as he indirectly invited his companion to do the same. Without a word, Itachi complied, his eyes fixated on an invisible spot on the grass.

Without looking at him, Itachi started to talk. "Did you notice any change, lately?"

Shisui frowned in response. He knew that Itachi was most likely speaking about the situation of the clan. The Uchihas still preferred to stay within the compound in order to avoid the tension with the villagers, although some of them refused to surrender and acted as if nothing was wrong while still being careful not to cause any more trouble. He hadn't noticed any progression yet, but, at least, the situation hadn't seemed to worsen either.

Itachi's eyes finally settled on him, tired, almost grieving. "When I came back, I had a talk with my father. According to what he told me, the idea of a coup was brought up again during the last meeting and they are considering it seriously now."

Shisui stiffened as he felt a cold chill run down his spine.

_He hadn't attended the last meeting._ He silently cursed.

Both teenagers stared silently at each other for a moment, processing the significance of this information. The Uchihas wanted to betray their village. This idea had been suggested a few times during their clan meetings, but usually it was quickly dismissed with rational reasons. Inwardly, he wondered if his mother was for it. As he thought back to the conversation he had had with her the previous night, he felt sick.  _Of course_ , she was.

Shisui closed his eyes tightly as if to wash away his dark thoughts and he cleared his throat. "We have to keep our goal in mind, Itachi. This…  _plan_  is just a temporary solution. If we manage to make things better, they will soon forget about it."

He saw Itachi glancing sideways, a frown marring his face.

"Is there anything else?"

Itachi shook his head. "Not really, no. I'm just…" he paused. "I'm worried."

Shisui smiled and patted him softly on the shoulder. "Hey."

"I'm worried for Sasuke," Itachi added.

Ahhh. Now, it would become more delicate. He stared carefully at the younger boy's face, trying to see what was on his mind exactly.

"Because of the treatment we were already given, I was a bit worried about Sasuke's situation in the village. As of now, everything seems to be going well," Itachi explained. "However, if the clan decides to rebel, they might start acting more aggressively towards the rest of the villagers and only fuel their suspicions and their prejudices."

"And the children will be the first victims of the consequences of their actions," Shisui finished, his face serious.

Itachi nodded, his face grim.

His analysis wasn't wrong, per se; still, Shisui believed that he was seeing a bit too far in the future. Shisui liked to be optimistic, but more importantly, he stayed realistic. He was well aware of their predicament, that's why he believed that as long as they acted conscientiously and endeavoured to build a better relationship with the rest of the villagers, the Uchiha clan would manage to prosper in Konoha. He just needed to buy more time and change his clansmen's mind about this foolish idea.

"Itachi," he drew his cousin's attention to himself once again, "you have a day off then, don't you?"

"Um, tomorrow, yes," Itachi confirmed.

Shisui grinned. "Great! How about we spend the day together with your brother? We can make sure that everything's fine with him and train him a little bit. It's been a while since we didn't have the chance to do that, right?" he suggested. Not only would it make Sasuke happy and reassure them, it would also brighten Itachi's mood and help him recharge more efficiently.

Moreover, Shisui loved watching those two together.

Itachi seemed to relax a bit at the prospect of spending time with his younger brother. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I should probably go back home, anyway, it's starting to get dark. We can meet up tomorrow at noon."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Shisui approved and he stood up. But as he did so, he felt a slight tickle on his left arm. When he glanced at it, he noticed the now-familiar handwriting traced with ink on his skin.

_Hello, can we talk?_

Shisui's left eyebrow went up. Eeeh, was he in trouble? Whenever he was asked that, usually, he either received a love confession or an earful for a slight little mistake he could have possibly done accidentally.

'Or they're going to make me help them cheat again,' he thought with a chuckle.

* * *

_No, you can use this word to replace the subject, not the object of the action._

Naruto clicked her tongue, annoyed. What did that even mean, dattebayo?

She had just been looking for some comfort after her bad encounter with some bastard in the street. But after talking with her soulmate for some time (her mood had escalated quickly by the way, he was  _awesome_ ), he started correcting her mistakes with a red pen and writing commentaries and explaining to her the rules of their language.

She pouted. If he understood her, what was the point of correcting her? He had even told her that she should try writing more in kanji instead of hiragana. Did he just  _know_  how hard it was to draw such complicated characters?! And he wrote back in hiragana too anyway. (Fortunately, she wouldn't have been able to decipher his words otherwise.) He was such a hyppic- hapo- hyp- uh, what was the word again? Whatever; he didn't make sense at all!

_You don't understand what I mean, do you?_

Naruto grimaced. She hoped that he didn't think that she was dumb or anything. She wasn't. Sakura-chan and Ino-chan had told her that it was incredible how she always had new ideas. She  _wasn't_  stupid.

_Don't make fun—_

She started answering, before erasing everything with her orange sponge. She squeezed it tightly in her hand afterwards; she really disliked the turn of their conversation.

_I'm not making fun of you._

She gasped. How did he know what she was about to write?!

_I'm sorry if I came out as rude; I just thought that I could help you improve. I will stop if you ask me to._

Naruto bit her lower lip. That… was nice of him, actually. Now that she thought about it, he might have begun to answer her only recently, but he had never spoken meanly to her. On the contrary, he always sounded kind and patient, and he had even helped her with her exam earlier that day. Reaching a decision, she wrote back firmly.

_You can titch me then. But with easy words._

A red line was drawn on the word  _titch_ , and below it, the word  _teach_  slowly came into view.

She wondered briefly, if she slapped her arm, would it hurt him as well?

* * *

When her alarm clock sounded, Naruto groaned. It couldn't be already morning, she refused. She wouldn't go to school today.

But then, she wouldn't see Sakura-chan and Ino-chan.

She opened her eyes wide and she promptly got out of her bed.

She had worked quite late on her grammar and her spelling the night before, until her vision became blurry and she told her soulmate that she had to sleep or she would look like a walking dead at school. In the beginning, she had found her friend's corrections annoying and rude (despite the fact that she had agreed to let him do), however, throughout the lesson, she had truly felt his kindness and his will to encourage her. It was incredible how friends helped each other without even being asked. They were all so good to her; she hoped  _so bad_  that she would be able to keep them.

After she got prepared, she hastily got out of her apartment and ran in the direction of her school. She wanted to be with her friends again as soon as possible, and if she could avoid unpleasant meetings on the road, it would make her day much better.

Upon her arrival at school, she immediately spotted Sakura-chan who was in the company of three girls her age laughing with her. She recognized them as her classmates, but couldn't name any of them. When Naruto reached them, she noticed her friend's sad expression and her eyes were directed to the ground.

"It's good that you realized you would never have Sasuke-kun with your ugliness. Just look at you," one of them mocked.

Naruto felt her blood boil. They weren't laughing with Sakura-chan. They were laughing  _at_ her.

Without a second thought, Naruto dashed towards the girl who had just said those horribly rude words to her pink-haired friend and head-butted her as hard as she could.

"Ami!" one of the side-girls cried as the so-called Ami fell backwards.

Behind Naruto, Sakura had looked up and gawked at the sight before her.

The small girl with purple hair groaned before she glared at Naruto. "Are you crazy? That hurt!"

Those words made Naruto feel proud on the inside, but she still glowered at her new least-favourite person. She was well-placed to know that words could hurt much more than hits.

"You have to say sorry, now!" Naruto demanded.

Ami snorted. " _You_  are the one who hit me!"

"You were mean to Sakura-chan! She's really pretty and nice, and she's much better than Sasuke anyway, you're just being an idiot –ttebayo!" Naruto insisted earnestly. How could this girl be so blind not to see something so obvious?

The tension that had gathered in Sakura's shoulder completely vanished as she watched Naruto, her cheeks rosy of gratefulness. "Naruto…"

One of the side-girls – Naruto really couldn't figure out their names – tsked at her. "As if you had the right to say anything! My mom and my dad always say that I should stay far from you anyway!"

"Yeah!" the other side-girl agreed, her arms crossed in an all-knowing-manner. "Papa told me to avoid you because you bring bad-luck and misery."

Naruto's mouth twisted downwards but she stayed silent. Of course, she was used to these comments, but what could she say other that scream that it was untrue? If everyone said it in the village, there must have been some part of truth.

"You liar!"

Naruto's eyes widened and she turned round to see Sakura-chan fulminating.

"Naruto's nice and funny and she's a really good friend! You have nothing on her!" Sakura countered fervently. "Since I became her friend, I only have good luck! If anyone brings misery, it's  _you_!" she concluded before taking Naruto's hand in hers. "Let's go, Naruto."

And without another look at her bullies, Sakura left them on the spot, prompting Naruto to do the same.

Naruto stared at her friend with awe as she followed behind her, a warm feeling spreading from her belly to the rest of her body. Never before had anyone defended her this way, she was so used to being insulted and verbally abused. It was the first time that she came out of one of those encounters feeling… happy? How was that even possible?

With her heart beating wildly in her chest, she questioned Sakura, uncertain. "Hm, Sakura-chan?"

The latter turned her gaze towards Naruto, a frown on her face. She was visibly still upset.

Naruto faltered a bit, but she still forced herself to ask her question. "Eh, did you… Did you really think what you just said? About me, I mean?"

Sakura-chan's eyebrows went up, an expression of shock taking place on her face. "Of course I meant it, Naruto! Don't tell me you believed them? Ami and her friends are always mean, what they said was a lie and stupid, you're an amazing girl, okay?" she persisted.

Naruto's cheeks reddened as she processed those words, before she tackled her happily. "Sakura-chaaaan!"

"Ow, Naruto! Careful!" Sakura cried in surprise.

"That goes for you too, you know!" Naruto added with excitement in her voice. "That girl said mean stuff to you but that wasn't the truth! You're pretty and you have beautiful eyes and you hair smells so nice and it's pink and I really really love your smile –ttebayo!"

It was Sakura's turn to blush. A timid smile formed on her lips, and she nodded shyly. "Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Naruto."

Naruto grinned in response. "So we agree that they're liars and we're both awesome?"

Her remark drew out a giggle from her pink-haired friend. "Yes, we are!"

* * *

The whole class of first years had gathered in the courtyard. It was time for the Taijutsu lessons.

It wasn't Ino's favourite, but she was good at it since her father trained her from time to time.

She was paired with Sakura who was still reluctant to fight as she preferred to think. However, Ino knew that her ability to think could be her greatest strength in a fight; after all, that was Shikaku-ojisan's specialty and he was one of the best ninjas her father knew! Nothing like that lazy Shikamaru, she mused, but anyway.

As she tried some moves on Sakura and gave her advice so that she would do the same, she heard a familiar cry not too far from her. When she looked in that direction, she saw Naruto sitting on the ground as Sasuke-kun was staring down at her with a proud smile on his face. He was sooo cute, but she was sure that her Sai was even cuter.

"You really are a dobe. Come on, Naruto, stand up," he taunted.

Naruto grimaced angrily. "I'm going to beat you up, teme! Wait and you'll see when I become Hokage!"

Sasuke scoffed at that. "No way. If anyone has to be Hokage, it will be my brother. He's one of the strongest ninjas I know with my dad! You have no chance, idiot!"

Ino frowned. That… wasn't nice. Sasuke-kun was a strong boy and he always did well at school, but he shouldn't be talking that way to her friend.

"We'll see that!" Naruto cried and she stood up with energy.

"Ino?" a sweet voice called her.

Right, her spar.

She turned back to Sakura who was watching her curiously.

Ino blinked.

"Wa-," she guffawed. "Oï, Sakura, what's that on your face?" she laughed heartily.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Apparently, she hadn't noticed that something had appeared on her face.

"You," she tried to talk between a fit of giggles, "you have a moustache drawn above your lips."

Sakura's eyes widened and she blushed profusely. "What?!"

Ino stared as a beard was materialising below her friend's lower lip. "Hahaha, it's getting bigger!"

That drew a sound of panic out of Sakura's mouth. "Whaaa- Ino, take it off! What should I do?"

As she stifled another giggle, Ino put her hand in her pocket to take the sponge her grandma had given her, but she only found a marker. Oops! She had most likely forgotten her sponge in the classroom since she had written to Sai earlier.

With an embarrassed smile on her face, Ino scratched the side of her cheek. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything to erase it. But you can write back to your soulmate? I think it must be his doing."

Sakura took the pen Ino was handing her vividly and wrote on her arm, her cheeks tomato red.

_What are you doing? Are you drawing on my face?_

It didn't take too long for her to receive an answer.

_Does it suit you?_

* * *

"Niisan!"

At the end of the day, when she got out of school, Naruto's attention was drawn by Sasuke's excited shout. When she looked in his direction, she saw him running towards a tall boy with unruly curls and a brunette with long hair tied in a low ponytail standing in the crowd of parents. They were both smiling at him and she felt a light pang a jealousy awakening in her belly.

As she watched Sasuke who started to tell them about his day excitedly, she came to the realization that this was most likely Sasuke's brother.  _The strongest ninja of all who would become Hokage before her_.

A frown settled on her face, and she wondered whether she could approach them or not. Sasuke's taunting smirk formed in her mind, and she quickly decided that  _yes_ , she would approach them.

She walked in their direction with determination, keeping her eyes focused on Sasuke's brother. He was taller than her and the headband on his forehead gave away his ninja status so he was probably stronger than her (for now), but she wouldn't lose against him. She would show  _everyone_  her true value and they would respect her, no matter what.

When she arrived right in front of them, they all looked at her curiously.

Sasuke scowled at the sight of her, but stopped himself from commenting as he waited to her to give the reason of her coming.

She stared directly in Sasuke's brother's eyes. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be Hokage someday!"

At first, the older brother seemed put off by her declaration, however, to her surprise, a kind smile formed on his lips. "Oh really? That's a nice dream," he said as he glanced sideways at his companion. "It seems that someone has a rival, here."

She followed his gaze and watched the second person in astonishment. "You too?" she asked in shock. This person also wanted to become Hokage? Oh, no no no, she wouldn't lose, she wouldn't! "I don't care, I will become stronger and I will become Hokage first! I won't lose against your girlfriend –ttebayo!"

Silence greeted her proclamation as the three of them stared at her. Sasuke's mouth dropped and he looked alternatively at her and the girl with long hair beside him, seemingly lost. Said girl blinked very slowly, inexpressive. Hah, she was angered by her challenge.

As for Sasuke's brother, his smile seemed to freeze and he made a strangled noise and cleared his throat, before he turned his face sideways as he put a hand on his face, his shoulders shaking slightly.

"I beg your pardon?" the one with long hair asked.

Naruto put a hand on her hip and pointed at her with her other hand. "You heard me. I'm not gonna lose against you. We'll see who will be the first female Hokage out of the two of us!" she exclaimed before dashing away from them. "I'm not letting you win!"

* * *

As they watched her run away, Sasuke frowned perplexed. "What was that? Whose girlfriend is she talking about?"

Itachi glanced at Shisui with a deadpan, trying to ignore the boy's shakings. "Shisui."

At the sound of his name, Shisui burst out laughing. "I'm so sorry, Itachi, but that was," he cut himself with another fit a laughter, "that was so  _cute_."

Sasuke turned his face to his older cousin, bewildered. " _Cute_? The dobe? Are you feeling alright, Shisui-san?"

"Sasuke," Itachi warned with a strict voice. "Don't be so rude to your classmate."

Shisui leaned towards the ANBU member and touched his ponytail playfully. "Yes, Sasuke, listen to my girlfriend's sound advice."

He ignored Itachi's annoyed glare and focused instead on Sasuke's lost look. "You have a girlfriend, Shisui-san?"

Shisui snickered without answering him.

He definitely  _loved_  spending time with his younger cousins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go!   
> I posted 4 chapters in a row because they were already on FF, the updates won't be AS quick in the future haha! 
> 
> The song Naru's singing in the beginning is Go by Flow, and that part is really covered by Naruto's voice actress.   
> Here: youtube.com/watch?v=wEqvMnBmh5A
> 
> I hope to hear from you soon :3 Until next update~


	5. Chapter 5

**.**

**Chapter 5**

**.**

It was a quarter to eight in the morning.

Why did they have to be at school so early, when the sun was barely rising, Shikamaru didn't know.

As he laid his arms on the table, his head buried in them, he tried to ignore the noise surrounding him as his classmates chatted loudly. What he wouldn't do to be in his bed right now, to have a pillow to lie on in this very moment…

When he heard a loud  _thump_  before him, he raised his head slightly to see a blonde little girl sitting in front of him. Ino, of the Yamanaka Clan, was usually seated in the rank before his with her two friends, Sakura and Naruto. He knew her as she came to his house from time to time, her father being a close friend of his dad. She was nice, but way too loud and bossy for his tastes. She used to spend quite some time with him and Choji, his best friend, and they still had to train on their clan techniques together whenever their fathers decided to organize a common training session – although it usually ended up in gossiping sessions, their dads being actually worse than Ino herself.

Fortunately, ever since she had become friends with the two other girls, the younger Ino-Shika-Cho trio spent less time together at school. It didn't stop Ino from nagging Shikamaru and Choji from time to time though.

Sakura, the pink-haired girl, was a shy and silent person. She had befriended Ino since quite some time now, but he didn't know much about her other than the facts that they liked to share stories about their (fictional) love lives. He was much more acquainted with Naruto – the girl who was despised by most of the adults. He didn't mind her, and they would spend some time together whenever they would skip class, alongside Choji and Kiba. Sure, she could be really loud, but somehow he felt for her as he was aware of the treatment some villagers gave her. Since she started spending time with Ino, she had become much calmer though. She was less troublesome in class, and she hadn't missed any courses; not even  _once_. He could see how having studious people by her side was influencing her. He couldn't even recall her pranking people that month.

He remembered asking his father about it. Weren't adults supposed to be wise and kind? Weren't they supposed to guide the children? One would think they would be much more attentive to an orphan-child like Naruto. At least, now that she seemed to have made friends, she looked happier. Shikamaru didn't like to meddle with things he wasn't involved in, but to see a classmate being mistreated by adults was so  _wrong_.

Shikamaru glanced tiredly at the seat beside him, where Choji was quietly munching his chips. He buried his head in his arms again, rubbing his forehead tightly against the back of his hand.  _He really_ needed _a pillow_ , he thought with a frown.

"-wrong about Naruto?" Shikamaru heard.

He blinked dazedly as he came back to his senses. A loud hubbub reached his ears suddenly, and he realized that he had probably fallen asleep for a few minutes.

Shikamaru rubbed his eyes sleepily as he raised his head, and pink filled his vision. During his slight nap, Sakura had arrived at school and was now sitting beside Ino. From behind her, he could see her upset expression as his eyes laid on her profile.

* * *

"Ino… Can I talk to you about something?" Sakura inquired, her voice quivering a bit.

Her blonde friend raised an eyebrow questioningly. She had probably noticed the unease that Sakura was feeling ever since she had stepped in the classroom.

"I…" Sakura started, as she searched carefully for her words. "Hm, something strange happened at home yesterday…"

Ino frowned slightly. "What is it?"

Sakura's lips turned downwards, her eyebrows furrowed. She glanced down at her lap, her face expressing openly her troubled state.

"My mom told me to stop being friends with Naruto…"

She didn't dare to look at Ino's reaction, and missed the way the blonde's eyes widened in surprise.

"What? What do you mean?" she demanded in a rushed tone. "Is that a joke? Why would she say that? What's wrong with Naruto?"

Sakura glanced at her, seemingly just as lost.

The night before, during dinner, Sakura had talked about her day to her parents as usual. Most of the time, the conversation revolved more around whatever they were being taught at school, although she would tell them about her friends and their little adventures as well. But, she realized, despite mentioning her "friends", she had never told them that  _Naruto_ was one of them.

Her parents seemed to have mistaken Naruto for a boy, at first. It wasn't until she had corrected them about the pronoun that they had seemed to recognize who she was talking about. After all, it wasn't usual for a girl to have such a boy-ish name.

Her father's expression had become unreadable, but she had felt cold just looking at him. As for her mother, all colors had drained from her face before she proceeded to scold her.

_Don't approach that girl again._

"I don't understand…" she whispered.

 _She's not a good person to be friends with, Sakura_.

"My mom is so nice, there must be a reason?" Sakura wondered weakly.

 _This girl is trouble_.

She hated that her mother sounded so much like Ami and her friends.

Ino stared at her, scandalized. "That doesn't make any sense! Your mom doesn't even know Naruto, how would she know that?"

Sakura's fists tightened and she fixed her gaze on her lap once again, her frown deepening. Her eyes moistened a bit as frustration built up in her chest. That was  _unfair_. Yes, Naruto used to be a troublemaker, but she had calmed down a lot lately. She always listened to her whenever she'd be asked to concentrate in class and she tried her best at school. She was so  _bright_  and nice. The image of Naruto defending her against Ami rushed back to her mind, her words playing on repeat in her head. How could her mother think  _Naruto_  was bad?

The mere thought of having to break their friendship hurt so much.

Ino watched Sakura silently, her thoughts following a similar trail. She could see the dilemma in her friend's eyes.

She spoke tentatively, her voice soft. "What do you feel about her, Sakura?"

Watery green eyes laid on her. "I…" she began with a quivering voice.

Naruto's smile flashed in her mind in that instant.

_I can check for you!_

The day when their friendship had begun a bit more than a month earlier, Naruto had approached them awkwardly in order to help them. Since then, they had spent all their time together. She would support them when needed, be happy for them if they had good news, and despite her hyperactivity, she'd do her best to listen and help as much as she could. She struggled in class but she would be very attentive to Sakura's explanations and was always so grateful. She was funny, with nice ideas, and she was so affectionate. She gave her confidence in herself and she was always in a good mood.

Sakura thought back of the lonely days at the beginning of the year, when people would mock her for her wide forehead. She'd feel so tiny, ugly and unimportant. Ino may have gotten her out of her loneliness and would be present for her, but Naruto offered her brightness and a feeling of accomplishment as well. Sakura might not have many friends, but those that she had were the bests she could ask for and she didn't want to lose any of them.

"I  _like_  her," Sakura whispered strongly.

"Then you should do what you want to do."

Sakura turned round in surprise to put a face on the voice who had spoken behind her.

His chin in his palm, Shikamaru was staring at her, his eyes expressing boredom at its finest. "If you think that Naruto's okay, don't ponder on it too much. That's troublesome."

She opened her mouth slightly, at a loss for words.

Ino rolled her eyes. " _Everything_ 's troublesome to you, Shikamaru." She glanced back at her pink haired friend and shrugged, before she stared with conviction at Sakura. "He's right, though. I like Naruto too, and she's already my friend. I'll stand by her."

Sakura looked from Ino to Shikamaru in wonder, their words filling her mind.

They made it sound so easy.

She had never questioned her mother's judgment before, but right in that moment, she couldn't help but want to decide for herself what she thought of Naruto. After all, she knew her way better than her parents did!

Finally, a smile formed on her lips and she nodded in satisfaction, her decision made. "Yeah. Naruto's my friend and that won't change."

* * *

Naruto was standing in the middle of a crowd of children. She looked around her, her eyes traveling between the little girls surrounding her as she tried to find her two friends.

She had talked until late that night with her soulmate, who was still giving her lessons on grammar and spelling while teaching her about the Shinobi History. After a complicated lesson at school that Sakura-chan couldn't explain to her because of a lack of time, she had questioned her soulmate who, obviously, was very knowledgeable. Thus, he went on a full explanation about the foundation of the Nations that resulted in the Ninja System, the Clans' alliances and the establishment of the Shinobi Calendar in year 0.

Learning about the Clan Wars was so crazy; he made it  _so_  much more interesting than Iruka-sensei did! Oh, how she  _wished_  that her soulmate could be her teacher at the Academy.

He had told her that it would be their last session of lessons this week, because he would be busy starting today. It happened from time to time, so she wasn't surprised at the news. He hadn't given her more detail, and she hadn't asked either.

Part of her was still scared that if she learnt too much about his personal life, he would ask her to tell him as much about herself – just like Ino and Sai did. And if her soulmate started to wonder about personal matters about her, he could ask her, say, her  _name_. Which Naruto wanted to avoid at all costs. In the end, he had warned her that she shouldn't worry about him not answering her at all in the following days, and that he would contact her as soon as he was done in order to put her mind at ease.

As a result of her staying up late, Naruto had had a hard time waking up in the morning and she ended up arriving late at school. When she had reached her classroom, the pupils were already moving out of the room. That day, the courses were divided; she didn't know what the boys would be doing, but girls had their Kunoichi Lessons. She didn't understand why boys and girls were separated; after all they were all at the Academy in order to learn how to be a good ninja. Shouldn't they be taught the same stuff, then?

She had tried to sneak in the boys' courses before, but she would always be brought back to the right class.

Now that she was friends with Sakura-chan and Ino-chan, she didn't mind it as much, but a few months before, since the only people she had an agreeable relationship with – as in, they tolerated each other – were boys, Kunoichi Classes were her least favorites.

Now, she just needed to find her friends.

"Alright class, today we'll learn how to put on makeup on your pretty faces!"

Naruto's attention perked up. Ohhh, they were doing paint today, dattebayo!  _That_  was nice news! Not that she wanted to throw flowers at herself, of course not, but she was reaaally good at painting!

* * *

The Shopping Street of Kusagakure was quite different from Konoha's. Although the village was also surrounded by trees, the architecture of the buildings and the districts gave a much different atmosphere. Shisui walked in the street wearing civilian clothes, his hands in his pockets, as he analyzed his surroundings. He loved his village with a passion, but it was interesting to see the differences with the homes of others. People were lively and the shops were busy, Kusa being located between two great countries and a few minor cities.

Rumors about one of Orochimaru's hideouts being situated near the village had reached the Hokage's ears, and a team had been immediately sent to find more information about the situation.

Since Anko was the most familiar with Orochimaru as his old apprentice, she had also been put on the team. However, seeing how agitated she had been during the travel, Shisui wondered if that had been a good idea. He was well-aware of how strong she was, both in skill and in mind, but the trauma of the Snake Sannin's betrayal was still too recent for her and she didn't have enough time to get over it. After all, it had only been four years since his defection, and the villagers blamed her and looked down on her for her teacher's treason.

In some twisted way, it felt awfully similar to the Uchihas' situation, and that was probably a reason why he and Anko got along so well. Despite the fact that she didn't know to which extend his clan was secluded, she  _had_  noticed that tensions were growing with them within the village - well, most of the villagers had, if he had to be honest with himself. Those who didn't feel any animosity towards them just preferred to stay out the problem.

When he noticed an old lady who seemed to struggle as she carried a few shopping bags, Shisui came to a stop. He put a pleasant and friendly smile on his face before he approached her to propose a helping hand.

The information-gathering could begin.

The team was divided in two divisions. Shisui's mission was to question people in town to collect information about a possible abandoned facility nearby as well as unusual disappearances or kidnapping cases. It was a given that the snake summoner was most probably running illegal human experiments. Raidō and Hayate also had to infiltrate different parts of town, while Anko and Aoba scouted the region as they tried to track trails that could have been left behind. Although Orochimaru was a careful man who knew not to leave any led to him, the snake mistress could follow after him thanks to their common summons to some point as well as her knowledge of her previous master's habits and tactics.

"Thank you for your help, young man, you're so charming. Would you stay for supper? I have a wonderful granddaughter, I'm sure you'd be very pleased to meet her," the lady suggested openly with an interested gleam in her eyes.

Shisui let out an awkward laughter, and he rubbed his hair shyly. "Ah, that- is very nice of you, but I'll have to decline."

Sharp eyes watched him like a hawk, and Shisui started to sweat profusely. He hadn't gotten any data,  _and_  now he was stuck with a matchmaker. He didn't understand why the elders were always so intent on setting up their descendants with him whenever he talked with them, but getting married was not part of his top priorities.

"Besides," he added with a grin, "my soulmate would most likely be upset if I went to see another girl!" he chanted with a wave, before he left quickly, laughing at the expression of surprise on the older lady's face.

He  _had_  someone waiting for his return, after all. Admittedly, they weren't waiting for him in the conventional way, but somehow he couldn't help but think of them in that moment.

With a peaceful smile on his face, the thought of his soulmate at the back of his mind, Shisui continued to meet people, chat with them and question them subtly. Thanks to his natural charisma and his friendly character, it was easy for him to blend in and to gain the villagers' sympathy. Moreover, his reputation hadn't quite reached the civilians yet.

Nonetheless, at some point, he started to notice suspicious glances being thrown at him. First, the people he conversed with would give him strange looks and they would stop talking to him. Then, gradually, even people around him would scrutinize him and whisper in his back. He wondered if word had gotten out that  _Shunshin no Shisui_  was in the village, but he couldn't think of what could have given him away and why no one was attacking him either.

After he left the last pub that he had visited, leaving stunned yet amazed looks behind him, Shisui felt that he was starting to feel paranoid and established to scan his surroundings carefully in case he was being spied on. If Orochimaru or his subordinates were around...

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Shisui caught sight of his reflection on a shop-window. He did a double-take and stared in horror at the sight in front of him.

"What the- ?!"

* * *

"Wait, gimme some more white paint!"

"Blush, Naruto. Blush."

Naruto took her hands to her cheeks. "Huh? How do I blush at will? Why d'you want me to blush?"

"Wha-" Ino facepalmed. "Naruto, no."

Sakura giggled at her friends antics. The class had been divided in groups of two to four people. Each group was given two make-up palettes, and they had to try out the examples that the teacher had shown them.

Predictably, Sakura, Ino and Naruto were together. They were all sitting around a table, and each of them took turns in putting makeup on each other. Ino had started with putting some on Naruto's face, applying orange eyeshadow (Naruto wouldn't take  _any_  other color) and red lipstick on her with as much precision as she could muster.

Then, she had taken care of Sakura's face as well, who was quite happy with the result. She felt like a  _true_  woman now! Ino had a way with aesthetics!

It was now Naruto's turn to apply makeup on Ino's face, however, the latter was too scared of the result and she tried to give a few pointers to her future makeup artist beforehand.

As her friends were bickering beside her, Sakura admired her painted face in a mirror, a smile on her face… until another detail caught her eye.

On her wrist, a message was written in black ink.

_Did you put makeup on your face?_

Sakura's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Her soulmate had written to her! That… was quite unexpected. She took a pen that was lying on the table and proceeded to answer him.

_How did you know?_

She saw a response being written back immediately.

_I've been told my green eyeshadow highlighted my sultry gaze, although it seems to be put quite sloppily._

Sakura read the sentence, looked at her reflection in the mirror - and focused mainly on the eyeshadow that Ino had chosen to compliment the color of her eyes, before she read her soulmate's message once again.

Her eyebrows furrowed. What now, even the  _makeup_  appeared on one's soulmate skin? What did he mean, ' _it was sloppy'_? Her soulmate could be so annoying! As she held her pen in her hand, an idea came to her mind.

A cheeky grin formed on her face.

_Payback time!_

She took a palette and a brush, and as she focused on her reflection in the mirror, she started to darken the foundation on her face. This way, her soulmate's  _sloppy_  makeup would be  _impossible_  not to notice!

She still hadn't gotten over the joke that he had played on her a month earlier when he had drawn on her face in the middle of class. The week before, during dinner, she had even found herself with bushy black eyebrows instead or her thin pink ones. Her parents hadn't understood how that had happened, seeing that when she had sat at the table, her face had been devoid of any painting. When she had tried to explain to them that she had inherited of the most irritating soulmate in the whole world, her parents had only retained the part where she had a lover, causing her father to burst into tears and her mom to ask many questions about her future son-in-law. At least, they didn't mock her about the ridiculous drawings on her face, but still. He was  _so_  infuriating!

"Sakura!"

At the sound of her name, Sakura turned to her caller. She was met with the sight of Ino staring at her in horror.

"What are you doing to your face? This is way too much!"

An embarrassed grin formed on her lips. Right, they were still in class. "Eh, revenge?"

Ino made a face and she stared in frustration at her pink-haired friend. "What do you mean?!" she demanded as she took a handkerchief from the palette to wipe off the supplement of maquillage. "I took so much time taking care of you! Didn't you like it?"

Sakura lost her smile immediately. "No, I did like it!" she denied. "It's just… Hmm…" She searched for her words, before deciding that the best way was to  _show_  her friend what she had just learnt. "Here, look."

Still upset, Ino read the small conversation Sakura had with her strange True Love, and as realization downed into her, her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wait, you mean to say that I put makeup on your soulmate?!"

"Em, I guess…?" Sakura shrugged. Really, Ino was her hero for that great accomplishment.

"And he called  _my_  makeup  _sloppy_?!" she added in an outraged cry.

Sakura nodded with a frown. "I know, right?" How  _dare_  he? Her soulmate was not very smart.

"This kunoichi-classes are really fun, -ttebayo!" Naruto chirped behind them. "Why is it that only girls have to learn this? The boys should do them too!"

Ino rolled her eyes as she turned in Naruto's direction, that Dog person's comment leaving a feeling of irritation in her chest. "We are women, Naruto. Makeup is used mostly for-" Ino's voice stopped abruptly.

Sakura threw an inquisitive look at her friend. Ino's mouth had dropped slightly and her eyes had widened comically. Following her gaze, she saw Naruto with her face painted in Kabuki-style.

"Na-Naruto, what have you done?"

"Um?" Naruto blinked innocently, white paint plastered all over her face as red lines drawn irregularly across her cheeks and nose gave her an aggressive appearance. "I put all the paint on my face like the teacher said."

Ino and Sakura glanced at each other, a similar thought running in their mind.

If their make-up and paint also appeared on their soulmate's faces, then Naruto's soulmate…?

"Oh my God,  _Naruto_!"

" _Take this off_   _right_ now!"

"Whoa-?"

* * *

The day had finally come to an end. As she organized her affairs in her bag, Ino left out a sigh. After the whole fiasco in MakeUp Class, she had to make Naruto promise not to touch anything without her supervision. Unfortunately, in the afternoon, they had lessons of Clothes and DressUp. It had actually gotten  _worse_ , and she hadn't thought that to be possible. Apparently, Naruto was a fervent admirer of Kabuki Theatre; since, after painting her face, she also decided to put on a kimono (which was very hard for girls their age to put on without the help of an adult) in order to give them a dance representation.

At first, she had wanted to put a stop to Naruto's whims. However, Ami had started to mock her, which resulted in Sakura joining Naruto in her folly, and, obviously, Ino had to be supportive of her friends, right?

They all ended up wearing kimonos very clumsily, and they gave a show at the top of their table. The rest of the girls in class had cheered on them and applauded them, until the teacher came back to check on the commotion and ordered them to stop their nonsense seeing that it was unacceptable behavior from future kunoichis.

A soft smile formed on her lips. Well, if she had to be honest with herself, it had been quite fun, in the end. Tiring, yes, but at least, they had had a good laugh. And it was always nice to make the bullies shut up.

"Ino, are you coming?"

She looked in the direction of the door, and spotted her two friends waited for her.

Yes, she never got bored with the two of them. Naruto would have weird ideas sometimes, but she was always so funny. As for Sakura, ever since she had started hanging out with Naruto, she had developed more confidence and dared coming out of her shell much more.

"Yeah, coming!" she shouted before joining them.

When she reached the front-door, she started to walk side by side with her friends towards the entry of the Academy. With a happy grin, she rolled up her sleeve in order to check the drawing Sai had made for her today. It had become a habit that every day after school, she would find a new drawing of whatever went through her soulmate's mind.

When her aquamarine eyes laid on the lines decorating her wrist, she froze as her chest filled with dread.

Instead of a drawing, three words were written in a shaky handwriting.

_Shin is dead._

**.**

**To be continued**

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiii, dramaaa! Dontkillmeimsorryyyyy!
> 
> Sorry for the absence, as I said last chapter I'm very busy with school. I'll be back in the beginning of July hopefully.
> 
> "Kabuki-style" makeup is the type of paint Naruto put on his face for his registration photo, you can check it out on Google. Kabuki Theatre is a type of drama play really popular in Japan.
> 
> For people asking who Sakura's soulmate is, it will be explicitly revealed soon! Either in the next chapter, or the one after that. The events will take a more "serious" turn from now on, but it will still be mainly fluff and comfort.
> 
> Thank you everyone for your support, it means so much to me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> Until next time!~


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What ninja in their right mind would infiltrate a village in a flashy manner?!” Shisui wonders rhetorically.
> 
> Naruto, in an orange jumpsuit, painting the roads on which she walks and cackling loudly: “UZUMAKI NARUTO FUTURE HOKAGE IS IN THE PLACE LOOK AT ME”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooo everyone! GUESS WHO'S BACK? 
> 
> I know, it's been an awfully long time. I can explain! At the end of the chapter. 
> 
> But first of all, I want to THANK YOU ALL you amazing and beloved readers, your comments are so nice and heartwarming and patient, I keep reading them again and again! TmT You're the bests!!
> 
> Have a nice read, I hope you'll enjoy it!
> 
> SUMMARY OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER: Naruto, Ino, and Sakura had kunoichi classes and learned how to put makeup on their faces! They realized that the makeup was transmitted to their soulmate, but Naruto had already painted hers in Kabuki style. Poor Shisui ended up drawing way too much attention while being away on a mission to track Orochimaru, alongside Anko, Aoba, Raido, and Hayate. By the end of the day, the girls were about to go back home, when Ino received a message from Sai telling her that Shin had died.
> 
> WARNING TRIGGERS: Talk about death. And there's kind of a lot of angst. Because death, and, stuff.

**.**

**Chapter 6**

**.**

 

“Shh, it’s alright honey, Mommy’s here”, a sweet voice whispered in a melodic tone, yet filled with bitterness. 

A sniffle reached Inoichi’s ears as he walked in the hall of his house, and he instantly knew that something was wrong with his little princess.

“What’s going on here?” he asked as he entered the living room. He paused at the sight that welcomed him.  

He was right. His little girl was crying. And it wasn’t the kind of crying he was used to. No, his angel was red in the face and looked so haggard that his shinobi instincts woke up instantly, alarmed. 

She had not just had her favorite doll stolen or had a fight with the little Sakura. No.

Ino’s eyes were closed tightly, her face partly buried in her mother’s chest.

An imperceptible tremor shook him and he finally looked at his wife. 

Her lips were pinched and an expression of pure disgust and sorrow shaped her features, “Inoichi…” 

“Daddy!” Ino raised her head towards him, her eyes alert and puffy. She whined in a small high-pitched voice, “I…”

Her tiny body was jolted with tears and she sniffed, shaking her head, unable to say a word.

“Shh, Ino, sweetie…” his wife’s voice was soft but firm as if she was trying to hide her own emotions.

“Yurika,” he started again, his voice tense, “What’s going on?” 

Inoichi was a shinobi. He was a shinobi specialized in information extraction. He had no mercy when he wanted to.

But when it came to his little girl?

He was helpless. 

Totally helpless. 

“Her soulmate’s brother is…” Yurika began, then trailed off, unsure, sending an upset look to her daughter.

Ino hiccuped. “Shin is dead!”

She burst into tears again, “And there’s nothing I can do for Sai! He’s all alone now! I didn’t even have the chance to _meet_ him. I know Sai loves him very, very, very much because he talks about him all the time and they do everything together, and sometimes it makes me jealous, but Shin writes to me too and he’s nice and fun,” she started rambling uncontrollably, “But Danzo-sama said that only one can live and he told them to fight to death and Sai didn’t want to and Shin said he was dying anyway so he put the sword in his chest and-”

Cold sweat started running down his back, and Inoichi froze. 

Suddenly, a flat and icy calm invaded him. No more confusing thoughts mixed with worry clouded his mind. The shinobi-side of him had regained control and the cogs of his brain started to work.

He knelt in front of his daughter, a serious expression on his face. “Ino.”

She stilled, and she stared with wide puffy eyes at her father, her face red and flooded with tears.

“Ino, tell me everything from the beginning.”

 

* * *

 

Water streamed on Shisui’s body as he rubbed his face harshly. Thinking of the events that had occurred earlier that day, he decided that at least, no one in the village would suspect him of being a spy. Because _what ninja_ in their right mind would collect information in such a _flashy_ appearance? He had been so horrifyingly obvious and noticeable… Then again, people in this town now believed him to be an artist in training _precisely_ because of said-obviousness. Now, that was something to reflect on.

 

Unintentionally, his thoughts drifted to his soulmate. Seeing the results of his beautified face, he assumed that they either wanted to work in an artistic place or were training to learn the arts of infiltration. He had deduced that they were fairly young, and he knew that they went to school (and had a habit of being late). Then again, it could have been completely random - he remembered the time Itachi had painted his nails in purple just to try it. 

He didn’t dare to ask his soulmate about their personal activities though, that could lead to more questions towards him and he didn’t feel ready to talk about his own profession, his village, and his beliefs yet. 

As he came out of the bath, he stared at himself in the mirror, satisfied to see his skin was truly cleared of any trace of makeup or lingering paint. He had noticed that his face was already clean upon entering the bathroom, but he would most likely develop a case of paranoia from now on.

When the citizens had started giving him looks during his information gathering, he had really thought that something in his speech or his appearance had given away his identity. So, after seeing his reflection in a shop window - with makeup on his eyes, on his cheeks, on his lips, his _blood-red_ lips - he couldn’t believe his eyes.

 _Obviously_ , it had to come from his soulmate. Well, probably. It must have been the first time they were wearing makeup since such an accident had never happened to him before; unless, for some reason, the makeup had never been transmitted until now. 

And then, _then_ , it had gotten worse with the whole Kabuki-crap. He had seen with horror, in real-time, the makeup being cleaned before layers and layers of white paint were plastered on his face. When people started approaching him to ask whether he was giving a Kabuki representation, his face had blanked. Never, ever in his life had he felt so lost. Anko would never let him live it down - because, _naturally_ , he had to cross paths with her _precisely_ at that moment. Forget the fact that she was supposed to be out of town until the end of the day with Hayate. She had literally cried of laughter in the middle of the street. She didn’t even _say_ anything because each time she’d land her eyes on his face, she’d erupt in laughter once again. Hayate didn't react though, commenting off-handedly that they were already used to his antics with makeup, seeing the perfect eyeliner he put on everyday. His eyelashes were _natural_ , dammit, and he just _knew_ that Yugao was jealous of him. 

Unfortunately for him, seeing the gossipers in his team- if it ever got to Genma’s ears- he was _so_ done for.

Shisui shook his head and let out a sigh of resignation. At least, when he would join ANBU, his face would always be hidden by a mask.

As he put his pants on, he came out of his thoughts when he realized that words were starting to form on his forearm.

Shisui raised an eyebrow in wonder. Usually, when he told his soulmate that he would be gone for some time, they would wait for him to contact them first.

_Can we talk?_

He stared for a moment. Deciding that he could rest for a bit before going back to work, he went looking for a pen in his pouch. They had probably realized the predicament they had put him in earlier and wanted to apologize.

_I may have a few minutes ahead. What is it?_

_Do you have a brother?_

Shisui blinked. That was a bit random, but then again, it was his soulmate with whom he was talking. It was the first time they were breaching the topic of their families though. Since it wasn’t too specific and didn’t define his identity, he decided it wouldn’t be too dangerous to talk about it.

However, although he was supposed to answer by the negative, Itachi and Sasuke instantly came to mind. A tiny smile formed on his lips.

_We could say that._

As he waited for their answer, he pondered whether he should ask them about the- incident. But that thought was cut short as he read his soulmate’s new message, and he froze.

_Are you gonna die for him? Or for other people?_

That… was not a question he had expected. 

Usually, his soulmate was so far from this… _world_ . They talked about shops, about the weather, about writing, events in the streets, fruits and ramen, and all the little things that made him remember how life could be simple and lively and beautiful. But death? _Sacrifice_? Those topics were the farthest from his thoughts in those moments. 

And they called way too close to home.

The very definition of a ninja was to lay down their life for their village. For the sake of Konohagakure and his clan, Shisui would gladly sacrifice his life. But to answer that much would be a dead give-away of his profession. Was his soulmate trying to deduce whether he was a ninja?

He played with the pen in his hand for a moment, before he wrote down his answer cautiously.

_Why are you bringing this up?_

A response was written shakily, his soulmate seeming to be thinking of the way to word the meaning of that question.

_I heard something sad today. It’s about two brothers, someone asked them to kill each other cause only one could live now. One of the brothers decided that he didn’t wanna do it, so he killed himself with a sword._

Shisui read the answer again and again and a knot tightened in his throat. Talking to his soulmate always made him laugh and took off the sorrowful thinking away from his mind. He tried to ignore the fact that someone made those brothers kill each other, but questions out of his control started to flash in his mind  – who would order that? A kage? It sounded like an order that would be given in Kirigakure. What if his soulmate lived in a small village of civilians and bandits were terrifying the inhabitants though? Was his soulmate in any danger?

His eyes focused once again when he saw that more was being written on the back of his forearm.

_But I don’t get it. Did his brother do a good or a bad thing? One of them can live now, but he’s all alone and he’s sad. And the other one is gone for good. We live to be happy with the people that make us happy right? Why didn’t they fight together to escape? What will you choose if your brother and you have to fight? If it was me, I know that I wont hurt my friends, but I don’t wanna die too._

A sad grin appeared on his face. Alright, definitely _not_ a ninja.

Shisui read once again his soulmate’s message, and as he erased all of their words with his chakra, he bit the inside of his cheek pensively.

_When you want to protect what’s precious to you, hard choices have to be made. There are two boys that I consider my brothers, to be honest. In my case, if my death can save them, then I’d choose it without hesitation._

He sincerely believed it and knew he would never come to second guess his choice.

Still, he wasn’t ready for his soulmate’s reaction.

_You know, kids my age all have parents, but I don’t. When I ask about my mom and dad, the old man says that talkin about them won’t bring them back anyway._

A shot of surprise hit him and his eyes turned a blazing red subconsciously.

_He said they died to save everyone, but in the end, I’m alone, I’m not happy, and there forgotten. I don’t even know their names._

A weight settled in his midriff. He pressed his lips together and stared at the last sentence for a long moment. 

When he felt his leg tickle, he knew that the rest of their answer was being written down there.

 _I don’t know, it makes me a little angry. That person I know is all alone now and I don’t know, it’s like his brother left him? I hate it. It’s not fair._  

Shisui didn’t point out the fact that they were rambling or their grammatical mistakes, too focused on the information he had just learned. And well, it wasn’t the moment.

A pang of sadness settled in his chest, glimpsing for the first time the loneliness and hurt his soulmate lived with.

Slowly, he erased the ink on his forearm. 

They didn’t grasp the way of a shinobi, and he didn’t know how to feel about it. Part of him was relieved that they wouldn’t come to think of their own lives as tools - he wanted them to live carefreely, unburdened; but another part of him was slightly disappointed at the thought that they may never be able to understand him. 

To be able to protect their loved ones, without having to sacrifice anything in exchange - that was so childish. So idealistic. _Unrealistic_. It would probably be more beneficial for them to realize early on that by trying to have everything, they risked to lose it all instead.

But he couldn’t bring himself to force his understanding of the world on them. Hopefully, they would never have to see life the same way he did.

Even so, he hoped that despite his view being contrary to theirs, they would at least accept it. 

 _I’m sorry to learn about your condition. I understand where you’re coming from. I really do. But in the end,_ _everyone has their own way of protecting what’s important to them. We must respect that and fight the best we can for what we believe in. Our actions in such a situation is a choice that belongs to us._

Twirling his pen in his hand absentmindedly, he waited, his gaze fixated on his arm.

_It’s fine, I have my friends and I have you now._

Their response made him bite his lower lip.

He clenched his hand around the pen, wishing he could grasp- touch- _something_.

_I hope you’ll never have to make that choice._

Shisui closed his eyes for a long time.

He had no answer to that.

 

* * *

 

The concept of death was so vague to Sakura, she still couldn’t grasp the idea that someone who had always been part of her life would suddenly vanish forever.

But she still knew what it meant in theory, and the concept left a feeling of unease in her chest.

Sitting on a bench in the garden of her house, she decided to talk to her soulmate for the first time for a reason other than insulting him after he had drawn something funny on her body. 

_Do you think that you’re going to die?_

She supposed that she could have found another conversation topic to break the ice between them, but by now, she was far from trying to keep up appearances with him. 

 _My friend’s soulmate almost died today._  

And that was a terrifying thought. 

The day had been so fun... until Ino had received her daily message. 

Shin took as much part in the conversations between Ino and Sai as Sakura and Naruto did. It was so strange and upsetting that something so terrible had happened to them. 

Sai had only had Shin and Danzo-sama in his life. Why would their caretaker ask such a thing of them, she didn’t know, but that meant that Sai wasn’t safe with him. 

 _Ino didn’t even meet him yet_.

And she had cried so much. What if Sai was still in danger? 

_Take care of yourself. Even if you’re annoying, we still have to meet someday._

She put down her pen.

She wasn’t really expecting an answer, she had just needed to convey her feelings.

But she still got one.

The frown on her face suddenly vanished, and her shoulders relaxed as she read his reply.

_I’ll try to live until you manage to put on some decent eyeshadow._

He was so insufferable.

_Ino wouldn’t happen to be the friend who beautified our faces this morning?_

She couldn’t repress the smile that graced her lips. 

With her legs dangling, she wrote back, thinking that sometimes he wasn’t _so bad_ after all.

 

* * *

 

“No Naruto, your stance is still wrong. Your feet must be _pressed_ in the ground,” Ino lectured, her hands on her hips, “like you’re trying to put a hole in the ground just with your weight.”

Sakura nodded. “If you’re grounded properly, your body will be more balanced and your hits can have a stronger impact.”

“Instead of those sloppy throws you’ve been giving.”

“Hey!” Naruto shouted in reflex, despite being focused on her position as she did her best to apply her friends’ advice.

Her eyes on the target, she flicked her wrist a few times before throwing her weapon.

It was nice to see Ino being her usual lively self again. After a week of trying to cheer up Sai, and feeling like they were failing - Naruto and Sakura would write to him as well to remind him that he had more that one friend by his side -, he had started to answer less and less, saying that he would be sent on missions from now on. However, every morning, Ino would show them the drawing he had made to her during the night. That time period had been… weird; the concept of mourning was too foreign to them, especially seeing that they never met Shin and couldn’t spend time with Sai physically. 

Even so, the come back of Ino’s and Sai’s little ritual made Naruto feel like the situation was back normal.

Since a practical evaluation would be held in a few days, the girls had been allowed to linger after school in order to practice their aim in the forest at the back of the academy. It wasn’t often that Ino and Sakura could stay with her to train together, and Naruto relished those moments when she could have fun in their company and get better at the same time.

Seeing that she was the one with the worst aim, Sakura and Ino had started to give her pointers as she practiced her shuriken throwings - Ino, with her bossy attitude, made quite the strict teacher, while Sakura was much more patient, being familiar with Naruto’s struggles. On the other hand, Sakura was training her punches by hitting repeatedly and steadily on a wooden board attached to a tree, while Ino was sitting in the clearing, a set of flowers put on her lap as she worked on her Flower Arranging and hid needles in the bouquet she was making.

After another hour of studying, they decided to take a break, and Naruto and Sakura joined their friend by sitting beside her. 

Naruto suddenly laid down and stretched shakily. “I can’t feel my hands anymore,” she whined, fisting her hands periodically.

“I feel you,” Sakura sighed as she traced the knuckles of one hand with her fingers.

“You should get some Rahiru,” Ino said, her eyes still focused on the newly made crown of flowers she had crafted. She pushed a needle between the stems, attempting to make it as invisible as possible.

Both girls perked up.

“Wha’s that?” 

Ino glanced at Naruto from the corner of her eyes before she turned back her attention to her activity. “Shikamaru’s family sells it. It’s a medicinal cream made of plants, for ninjas. It helps with tight muscles and pain due to training, and superficial injuries. Probably. My daddy brought me some if you want it. It’s good to put some on the tight parts of your body after training.”

Naruto sat back excitedly. “That’s so cool!”

“I never heard of it,” Sakura added, her eyes shining. “Are they made by ninjas?”

“Uh-uh. The Naras are a ninja clan, but I’m not so sure if those who work in the shops have ninja training. I think that they specialize in medical research or something?” she shrugged, distracted. “You’ll have to ask Daddy.”

Naruto watched Ino as she twirled the crown and checked that all the needles were well hidden. It amazed her to see her friend being so imperturbable when she studied; especially if flowers were involved.

“I think that some researchers work with ninjas,” Sakura mused. “Maybe there’s some ninja-specialty involved?”

She pondered over it some more, and Ino hummed in response.

“I would be curious about the specialty that we could have as ninjas. Like, one where brains are more important than punches.”

Naruto raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Why? Your hits hurt more than Ino-chan’s you know. I think you’d be good whatever you do anyway.”

Sakura blushed, a pleased smile forming on her lips. “Thank you.” She looked fixedly at her blonde friend and after a moment, she leaned towards her. “By the way, you want to become Hokage, right?”

Naruto’s eyes widened. “Oh. Uh,” she grinned shyly, “yeah, dattebayo!”

“Why Hokage though?”

“Um,” Naruto put her hand at the back of her neck, slightly nervous. “Well, because the Hokage is the strongest in the village, and I wanna be the strongest?” she explained, but her answer sounded more like a question. “And…” she shrugged sloppily, “And I dunno, maybe people will stop avoiding me then?” she finished in a more subdued voice.

Ino looked up, and both her friends stared at her. 

Chills ran down Naruto’s neck, and her body tensed up subconsciously. She shouldn’t have said that.

She saw them exchanging silent looks. They seemed to be having an unspoken conversation, which caused Naruto to start fidgeting. 

That was so stupid of her, why would she mention that anyway? Her thoughts went to her own soulmate who still hadn’t talked to her since their conversation about Sai, and she wondered if deep down she wasn’t scared of being left alone again. She knew that he was busy and she had promised him not to try to talk to him whenever that happened - she had broken the rule about a month before, but she wouldn’t do so again just because she was getting lonely. But still, she missed him; after all, it was the first time that he was gone for so long, and what if- what if she’d end up alone again?

No, it wasn’t like she was alone anymore, she had found friends and people who talked to her and listened to her and helped her- and they were _so nice_ - 

But what if at some point they started to see what _everyone_ saw in her?

No, Ino-chan and Sakura-chan weren’t like that, she shouldn’t be having these thoughts about them- and her soulmate had no clue of who she was so it would be fine anyway-

She felt a flick on her forehead and was met with two sets of eyes looking back at her.

“Naruto, you’re our friend,” Sakura reminded her.

“And if some stupid idiots think that you’re not okay, then they’re just dumb,” Ino added in a tone that sounded final.

Sakura threw a funny look at Ino and seemed to be about to say something, but she closed her mouth quickly afterwards. She turned back to Naruto. “You don’t need to be Hokage for that, you know it, right?”

A warm feeling invaded her chest, and Naruto felt tingles all over her belly, and the world became brighter all of a sudden.

She should be getting used to it, and she knew that her fears were senseless, but she just- she needed to hear such a confirmation again and...

And a black trail of ink had just appeared on her pink-haired friend’s face.

“Uh, Sakura-chan…”

“You do know it right?” Sakura insisted, unaware of her current predicament.

“You better,” Ino nodded. “You’re stuck with us now! There’s no going back.”

Naruto ducked her head and bit her lower lip, a huge smile threatening to take a permanent place on her face. She truly had the best of friends.

When she looked up, she beamed at them and nodded, but her eyes were still drawn to her friend’s face.

“Sakura-chan? Um, just, your face...”

“What is it? Do I have something on my face?” Sakura asked, her head tilted, before her body stilled, all colors draining from it - other than her newly acquired markings, obviously. “Oh no.”

Ino turned her head towards her, blinked, and pursed her lips. “Huh. It seems that your husband’s mustache grew back.”

Even if she was used to this conversation, Naruto let out an uncontrollable giggle. That guy was so weird. When Sai always made nice and pretty drawings on Ino’s arms, Sakura-chan’s soulmate seemed to prefer to exchange with her directly on the face. At least they weren’t in the middle of a class this time. Fisting her hands, Sakura let out a frustrated scream before she stood up angrily and walked to the wooden board she used for her training.

“Won’t he stop doing that, _shaaannaroooooo_!?” she cried as she threw a hard punch against the board.

Naruto winced.

Yeah, Sakura-chan’s hits were _definitely_ the most powerful.

She threw a glance at Ino-chan who was grinning as she watched Sakura-chan, and a peaceful feeling settled in her chest.

She really loved them.

 

* * *

 

Unbeknownst to them, a tall and shadowy figure was squatting on a branch, his chin resting on his hand. An eye glistening with intelligence was fixated on the angry shrimp shooting and kicking the tree he had landed on.

“Maa, so it’s you.”

 

* * *

  
  


The door of the ShinoBeer pub opened, and Genma stepped in, an amused smile adorning his lips. He nodded at the bartender before his eyes lightened up as he spotted one of his favorite friends to annoy seated at the bar. 

“Oi, Kakashi, there you are!” He saluted the masked man with a light tap on his shoulder. “You’ll never guess what I just heard from Raidō!” 

His old partner had just come back from a long mission, and despite the confidential nature of their job, he hadn’t lost any time sharing the lastest gossips he had acquired over there.

His silver-haired friend kept staring at the glass in his hand, his shoulders slouched and his gaze hazy. 

“Kakashi?”

“She’s five.”

“Huh?”

Kakashi turned his head mechanically towards him. “She’s five, Genma. Maybe seven, if we’re lucky. She’s a _baby_.”

Genma blinked. She? A five years old kid? What was he talking about?

Kakashi stared. “The Ribbon-girl.”

Then it clicked. 

“... Ah.”

Slowly, Genma reached the seat on Kakashi’s right and plopped down next to him.

“She had mentioned her friend Ino, which sounded a lot like a Yamanaka name. Turns out this Ino so happens to be the name of Inoichi-sama’s daughter. I did some research and I… found _her_. She was with Naruto earlier, they must be about the same age.”

That was… interesting. 

“She could have been an enemy ninja. It’s not so bad,” Genma tried to put that in perspective. “You just have to… wait, I guess. If you _do_ wish to have a romantic relationship with her at some point.”

It could have been worse.

Thinking back to the little story he had heard earlier, he snickered.

After all, Kakashi could have ended up with makeup all over his face during an important missi-

Genma blinked. His lips parted slightly, the senbon in his mouth threatening to fall out from it.

Kakashi let out a long-suffering sigh. “You have some valid points but… She has pink hair. And her name is Sakura. I swear it sounds just like that time Minato-sensei decided to write a romance novel and based his main protagonist on me. And she’s _five_.”

Naruto. Naruto was friends with this Sakura-girl. The Sakura-girl who had written to her soulmate.

“And you’re not even listening to me,” Kakashi grumbled before he averted his gaze and he started to play with the glass in his hand once again.

“Ah, sorry, I was. Your soulmate’s a baby and your kids will have cherry blossom hair. When the Ribbon-girl stops being a baby.” He ignored the flat look that was thrown at him and tilted his head curiously instead. “Didn’t Hokage-sama take Naruto to a Kabuki performance a few months ago?”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Yeah, he did.”

“And Naruto likes to paint a lot, right?”

“True. What of it?”

“… Ah. Nothing.”

“Genma,” Kakashi warned in an annoyed tone as Genma’s lips turned upwards, the senbon between his teeth moving from one side of his mouth to the other alternatively. “What is it.”

A wide grin was the only answer he was given.

Genma had a feeling that life had just become way more interesting, all of a sudden.

 

.

.

.

 

**To be continued.**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: The origins of the Rahiru cream name is… kinda dumb. But I’ll tell you. “Ra” is from Nara. “Hiru” is the way the word “heal” would be pronounced with Japanese syllables. Shhh, don’t judge.
> 
> .
> 
> Soooo, here we go! I know that this chapter wasn't as funny as the previous ones, I had to put some serious talk, but you know, ninjas, Danzo, children being neglected, all that ;w; 
> 
> To be fair, other than my personal life (school, problems, yada yada) taking too much place in my life these last months, I had a terrible writer block. See, I wanted to take care of Danzo (AND PROTECT SHISUI), but in the process, the ideas and the story were becoming wayyyy too focused on politics, and I didn't have fun anymore. So I had to find a way to make "the plot" move, but without it getting boring/political/drifting away from the NaruxShisui which is my main purpose in this story. In the end, I had to work again and again on the plot of the next few chapters to see how to take care of all of Danzo's crap without it taking too much place and, I think we're getting there? Hopefully, you still enjoyed it!
> 
> Huge thanks to Jazzmine who helped me and pushed me to finish this chapter ;w;
> 
> If you're interested, she's writing a Sakura-centered fanfiction where we see her training seriously and setting goals to herself to become a flee-on-sight ninja like Minato when she grows up, and the characters are so adorable and heart-warming! So yeah, if that's your thing, A Will Made of Iron is made for you!
> 
>  
> 
> I'll do my best so that there will be happier Naru/Shisui content next chapter by the way, I promise! Until then :D
> 
> .
> 
> *whispers* Did you know that Itachi joined the Akatsuki because he wanted to try their nail polish? It's canon. Honest.


End file.
